Good, Better, Best

“Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best,” is a saying often heard by those who spend much of their early years running up and down basketball courts, or participating in other youth sports. This quotation reportedly came from a theologian born in 340 A.D. (1) Whether or not St. Jerome said it first, this maxim describing perseverance is often used by sports figures in recent years. (2)

For those who battle against the evils of pornography, and who try to diminish pornography’s harmful effects in society, perseverance is a necessary attribute. As in most other pursuits, for those who battle against pornography it is easier to persevere when good news comes along every so often. Recent media reports have brought such good news.

According to one July 28, 2025 newspaper report, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced it obtained 18 convictions of purveyors of pornography as part of what has been dubbed Operation Grayskull, “a joint effort between the Department of Justice and the FBI that dismantled four dark web child pornography sites. The cases were across the U.S. and seven other countries … The websites, ‘some of the most egregious on the dark web,’ were dedicated to images and videos of child sexual abuse…” (3)

CBS News also reported that the “… Operation Grayskull investigation launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents noticed a spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of hosting child abuse material. The dark web child abuse sites eventually attracted more than 120,000 members, millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News …” (4)

“This operation represents one of the most significant strikes ever made against online child exploitation networks,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “We’ve not only dismantled dangerous platforms on the dark web, but we’ve also brought key perpetrators to justice and delivered a powerful message: you cannot hide behind anonymity to harm children.” (5)

“Today’s announcement sends a clear warning to those who exploit and abuse children: you will not find safe haven, even on the dark web,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “These offenders thought that they could act without consequences, but they were wrong. Thanks to the relentless determination of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners we have exposed these perpetrators for who they are, eliminated their websites and brought justice to countless victims.” (6)

In other news, those opposing pornography received unexpected encouragement from the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2025, in the form of a 6-3 decision by the Court upholding a Texas law that requires age verification before accessing certain pornographic websites. “In the opinion written by Justice Thomas, the Court states that ‘because H. B. 1181 simply requires proof of age to access content that is obscene to minors, it does not directly regulate adults’ protected speech” and that “adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification.’ Rather, requiring proof of age is an ordinary and appropriate means of enforcing an age-based limit on obscenity to minors. Age verification is common when laws draw age-based lines, e.g., obtaining alcohol, a firearm, or a driver’s license. Obscenity is no exception.’ ” (7)

“Adults in America accept limits every day on their access to certain products or activities for the sake of protecting children. They must verify their age to purchase alcohol or tobacco. They must go through a process of proving their identity and meeting certain licensing requirements in order to own and operate a firearm or drive a car.

“Balancing adults’ rights and the government’s compelling interest in protecting children from harm means that as adults we live with certain trade-offs, especially in areas where it is critical to restrict children from accessing certain substances or technologies that are too powerful for their developing brains and bodies.

“Yet despite widespread acceptance of such limits in the real world, we have struggled to implement similar trade-offs in the virtual world. As a result, the virtual world has been a Wild West for our children — there is almost no corner of the internet, including those filled with sexual, dangerous, and harmful content, that is effectively off limits to children.

“This gap between the real and virtual worlds, however, may finally be starting to close due to the … decision … in the case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, where it ruled … to uphold Texas’s law … that age-restricts pornography websites to adults ...” (8)

Progress in the battle against pornography is being made.

“Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and better is best.”

_____________

1. Shadowbrook, O. (April 12, 2025), “St. Jerome Quotes,” quotesoftheday.org, https://quotesoftheday.org/st-jerome-quotes/. Accessed July 30, 2025.

2. Duncan, T., www.goodreads.com, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/93387-good-better-best-never-let-it-rest-until-your-good. Accessed July 30, 2025.

3. Ortiz, K., June 28, 2025, “18 convicted in Operation Grayskull as child pornography websites shut down,” The Dallas Morning News; https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2025/07/28/18-convicted-in-operation-grayskull-as-child-pornography-websites-shut-down/. Accessed July 29, 2025.

4. McFarlane, S., (July 29, 2025), “Justice Dept. shuts down dark web child abuse sites that had 120,000 members and millions of files,” CBSNews.com; www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-dept-shuts-down-dark-child-abuse-websites. Accessed July 29, 2025.

5. Dept. of Justice Press Release (July 23, 2025), “Operation Grayskull Culminates in Lengthy Sentences for Managers of Dark Web Site Dedicated to Sexual Abuse of Children,” https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/operation-grayskull-culminates-lengthy-sentences-managers-dark-web-site-dedicated-sexual; Accessed July 29, 2025.

6. Id.

7. Morell, C., (June 27, 2025), “The Supreme Court Brings Real-World Limits to the Virtual World,” National Review.com; https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/06/the-supreme-court-brings-real-world-limits-to-the-virtual-world/. Accessed July 31, 2025.

8. Id.